mpanied by a Central Office man named Baird, visited
Flechter's place of business and the two represented themselves as
connoisseurs in violins and anxious to procure a genuine Strad. for a
certain Mr. Wright in St. Paul. Flechter expressed entire confidence in
his ability to procure one, and did almost succeed in purchasing for
them the so-called "Jupiter Strad."

All this took time, and at last, on April 28th, 1895, poor old Bott died
in his boarding-house in Hoboken. After the funeral the widow settled up
her affairs, changing her boarding place temporarily, and, having no
ties in this country, determined to return to end her days in the
Fatherland. On May 21st she wrote to Flechter, who had lost all track of
her, that her husband had died, that she had moved to 306 River Street,
Hoboken, and that she thought seriously of going back to Germany. Two
days later Flechter wrote the following letter to the Central Office
man, who had given his name as Southan, an employe of the alleged Mr.
Wright:

MR. SOUTHAN, care of H. P. Durden.

_Dear Sir_: Write to inform you that I have a genuine Strad. to
offer you and would like to see you at your earliest convenience.

Very respectfully yours,

VICTOR S. FLECHTER.

When Allen saw this letter it seemed to him absolutely to confirm his
suspicions. Now that the only person in the world who had been
authoritatively able to identify the "Duke of Cambridge" Stradivarius
was dead, Flechter was offering one for sale.

Then occurred the strangest thing of all. On May 28th, five days after
Flechter's letter to Southan, Mrs. Bott received the following
extraordinary epistle. Like the notice given her by Flechter in his
office, it was partly written in printed capitals and partly in script.

_May 28, 1895._

To MRS. BOTT, 306 River Street, Hoboken, N. J.

_Dear Madam_: I wish to inform you that the violin taken from your
house some time ago will be returned if you are willing to abide by
agreements that will be made between you and I later on. It was my
intention first to dispose of it, but on account of its great value
and the danger it would place me in by offering for sale being a
violin maker and dealer and not being able to sell with safety for
such a large sum of money I concluded to wait. I have now thought
the matter over and come to the conclusion that a little money is
better than none and if you are anxio